Living Water in the Desert

I mean... is it not awesome? One week I went to the desert... fyi, the desert is the suburbs to my home and then the next week  I went to the beach! (twas too cold...boo)

Camels are so ugly they are cute. This picture doesn't portray this concept very well...BUT believe me they are some intriguing creatures I think the Father had some fun creating them.

Lol they make the funniest faces, spit, and pee for a reallll long time, oh and they roar... lol. 

   

 The Mediterranean Sea inspires me to paint but then how is it possible to take such beautiful creation and duplicate it on canvas? I was also reminded by creation that water is not far from the desert. i.e.  The living water (I could hear the roar of the waves from afar) is here, in this desert.

Mish Kwayas... Not Good

I should be asleep, I can't because my neighbors wont go to sleep... when do they sleep? OHHHH durIng the day... hmmm....

Prayer call at 5 in the morning is pretty scary... 

recording of it, coming soon!

The man sounds like he's sobbing.... 

Man..... its sad. 

Oh did ur house smell like feet?

OK So if u're a mexican u know a staple at home are beans, frijolitos. Frijoles con huevos, frijoles con arroz, frijoles y carne, frijoles con frijoles.. I mean... we ALWAYS have frijoles at the house. Ok so now that I'm pretty much set up I've started my hunt for beans. And this is what I found..... 

The local beans here....... They don't sell pinto beans, I asked my friend if she knew what they were.. its Kinda hard to describe beans i mean what am i going to say? oval shaped beans light brown with darker stains on them.. i dunno...I TRIED, MANY WAYS, oh and black beans.. she was amazed at that, never seen them before!! Well we looked and looked and finally I was like just show me how u guys make your beans. They call it ful and I tried some at one restaurant they were actually tasty. So i buy 1/4 of a kilo of these, you have to let them soak supposably for 3 hrs, she said, but online It says all night... I followed her advice, then boil them like our beans.

And this is how they look...

 eww... and my flat stunk... I called my mom and she said ohh their 'avas'... and her friend who was there, was like ohhh did ur house smell like feet? Yea.. it did. They knew exactly what I was talking about. My home smelled nasty. So i gave up on them for today.

 I just want some pinto beans.... Tomorrow I'm going to try again, my mom told me a good way to prepare them, crossing fingers... hope it works. I'm sure i'll have to have them refritos so they wont look so uglay.

OTHER RANDOM FOOD ITEMS.... I like the bottles.

Coca Cola.. its real good! I think its better than the states. It's not as sweet.. more gassy =/ lol jk. its good.

And here's the milk its called laban in Arabic. The brand is "Labanita"

They sell milk in boxes but ewww and like the real stuff in the streets... but also....ewww..

I'm still on the hunt for real Jalapenos... I made salsa today to go along with Carnita and delicious flour tortillas... (which i'm so happy about, because yesterday I tried to make them and they came out horrible it was very dissapointing, something about the flour made them stiff and yucky...) but =/ these peppers were not cutting it. I mean I could get used to them but still....you know.. 

Today completes my first month here!! I just needed to add that. I do miss my loved ones back home. I miss them sooo much. I'm thankful for skype which makes up a little bit for not being with them. But i'm soo happy because I'm seeing some answered requests!!

I've had good and bad experiences... mostly crazy... and I'm past the honeymoon stage I think, I already had my homesick night... but I will continue to take the desert a day at a time. 

Asking for the strength to smile!

I Forget i'm in the Desert

So... I have Chili's and On the Border, and McDonalds, and "King Burger", Even Starbucks, which are all pricey.. but still we have them...BUT I still can't believe we dont have ranch. I was so excited because I was buying me some chicken nuggets and i was expecting them to have ranch, i mean they import everything right? MCDonalds makes their own ranch so u think they'd import that too. but no... the guy was like... what? franch? ughhhh... sad day. 

We don't get asked that here.....

Jaz.... your in the desert... is what a friend had to remind me.

I went to starbucks today, I finally just went ahead a

nd catered to myself, I had a rough day yesterday. 

I ordered my happy drink: Strawberries and Cream frap.... =( The guy looked at me and said... No we don't have... only in AMERICA... yes... THANKS.. I'm done with my whining for today....

I had a caramel macchiato... extra caramel? YES!

Thankful for the little Things...IPOD

So.... this wonderful invention, called an ipod. I'm so glad i have it. It helps alot.

As most of you know, the whole men situation here is a little risky, and well they just like to talk, hiss, and umm sometimes follow women. So as i get in a taxi, these guys always tried talking to me, so 1) I have no idea what they say but 2)I can tell by their tone and hand motions when they are wanting to chat and not actually wanting to know where they need to take me to. So now, when I get into a taxi I put my ipod on! =)

And it works....I mean I think its pretty universal that w

hen someone has their headphones on it means I dont really care to talk right now. I havent had any issues since then. and  now they only speak up when they actually have an important question on the place i'm going. Plus... i'm wrshiping in my mind, rather than listening to their pryer songs and stuff. (rarely is there some good station on in a taxi)

Today I forgot my ipod.. and I got offered some of the guy's snickers... LOL. let me just say it was funny...I mean he was being serious. I tried not to laugh, and keep a serious face. But I mean.... really? want a bite of my snickers?? He then went on to try to have a conversation...and i found the 2.5 pound headphones and put them in sans ipod, he wouldnt know. lol.  

so those headphones for 2.5 pounds (about 50 cents)  i bought from this old man on a corner shop. they proved their value, they tore while i pulled them out of my bag... lol. ehhh malesh (whatever)  and yes i felt a little ridicuhlous with my tore headphones in my ears. lol but he couldn't tell. ; )

Thingamabob plug

So I'm guessing if you read my blog, your also getting my email updates. So i figured on here i'll put my random adventures, and stories of what it's like living in this interesting place. Where plugs are two round thingamabobs..... gosh

As useless a fact as this might seem. It caused me some frustration. I mean, a girl has to have her chi.... (for guys: the straightening iron that is amazing to leave your hair silky straight and it's only the best straightner ever.) So anyways, I brought it. I only brought with me my chi, and my ipod/ipod dock, and my MAC. So.... i get here and yeah i can't plug in anything to the outlets on the walls. So long story short, my chi doesn't work anymore because of course its on a different power range and it burned out... SAD DAY(s). Oh and my ipod dock also is not working... Anyways, its not a need, need, but it is NICE.

bUT LET ME JUST SHARE..... a couple days ago.... THE FATHER IS SO KIND... I saw an amazing straightner, (one that my friend has, her mom bought it from spain and it hasnt reached the states yet)  like you won't believe me.... i saw this man going out of the store with it, and YES we ran to him and asked him to see it to make sure it was the one. 

So... i have a straightner with that thingamabb plug and its awesome, it's better than the chi, and cheaper too. God is good =) the end. 

I'm still on the hunt for some speakers....they can stop me from singing in public but not from jamming out in my flat!